Door holder



DOOR HOLDER E. H. WINGATE, JR

Filed Nov. '7, 1949 Aug. 5, 1952 INVENTOR BY M ATTORNEYS Patentecl Aug. 5, 14952 p I noon HOLDER I n Edwardlfl, Wingate, .l r B irminghamihla. Application November 7, 194.9, Serial No. 126,011

. My presentinventionrelates .to door holders and has for an object the provisioniof adevice of the character designatedwhichshall be simple and economical of construction; positive of operation, and which shall automatically remain in inoperative position when-the floor engaging member thereof is manually raised 'tolinoperativeposition. A Another object is to provideiadoortholder em bodyinga' body member adapted to. be attached to th odoontogether-with a U -shaped'flo'or=engaging prop member formedof resilient material having its legs pivoted to thelegs of the U-shaped body and engageable with-sloping portionsprovided on opposedends of the -body. wherebythe prop is spring biased into'engagement'withthe floor to hold a door open, and'to accomplish this result with a complete unitmade of-only 'two parfg y Another object is to provide the body with other sloping portions disposed to-be contacted by' the prop whereby when thepropis raised slightly above horizontal position it snapsupwardly to inoperative position, clear of the floor.

A further object is to provide a door holder of the character designated in which the body member is securedtothe door and; the floor, engaging prop comprises a U-shaped. member, the body being preferably formed oil-a plate of steel bent to U shape and the floor engaging prop being preferably formed of around steel rod, to- 'getherwith means to pivotally mount' the'ends of-the prop to the outstanding legs of fjbhehu shaped body, w-hereby the prop legs contact outturned sloping ends provided on the legs of the body, thus to be spring biased toward thefloor by the inherent resiliency of the material from which the prop is formed when the prop is brought to a position out of parallel to the base of the U-shaped body.

A door holder illustrating th features of my Claims. (01. 292-338) invention is shown in the accompanying drawing forming a part of this application in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of my improved device attached to a door and showing the same in full lines in door holding position and in dotted lines in inoperative position;

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the device;

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view taken generally along line III-III of Fig. 2; and,

Fig. 4 is a developed plan view of th body portion.

Referring now to the drawing for a better understanding of my invention my improved door holder comprises generally a U-shaped body member I0 disposed to besecured to the door H; and a U -shape d floor engaging prop lZ'pivotally mountedto-the body. As best 'shown'inthe developed view, Fig. 4, the body member l 0 comprises a sheet of metal, preferably a relativelystiff steel sheet-of about 18' gauge. In forming the-body-I make the ends of the platetriangular as viewed in plan with the apexes 'I t 'substantially coinoi-- dent with the longitudinal 'center line' of 'the'pl'atei Along-the lines I3'a-nd1l4 at eachend of the plate l {l I bend the metal to form 'ro'undflbottom groove sbest shown-in Fig.'3,-"the centran' disposed triangular ends extend outwardly' and"forward- 1 of the bodyfand are joined tangentially to -the curvedbottom for the grooves 16.; At the longi tu'dinal center of the depressions Hi; just inward- 1y of the apexes of the triangularends', I provide holes "ll. The {holes are provided at -points on the sheet" to V li substantially in the-'bottoms' oi the grooves-I 6' when thelatterare formed The sheet is bent along-the lines 18 to provide "base 'JIn section 1-9 and legs 2]! outstanding 'therefro the base I911 provide a pair of holes 22 through which are" passed; screws 23 for-securing the base v i H, I ;F T prop memberl l z preferably is iii-the tor-m ofa U -shaped-'*ro'd j having a floor engaging base section '24 and legs"-26.'-' The-diameter of -t he rod forming the propis pre'ferably sli'ghtly'less than the diameter of the grooves -16.- 0n the-ends of the legs I provide inwardly bentportions i l which,

arev disposed to enterithe holes l'lp thus to pivotally mount the-prop to: the body I0. The base 24 of the prop may be slightly outwardly bowed as shown in Fig. 2 whereby substantially a point contact with the floor may be obtained.

From the foregoing the method of constructing and using my improved door holder may now be readily explained and understood. With the parts assembled in the manner shown in the drawings I fasten the device to the bottom of the door at such elevation that the prop I2 engages the floor 28 when pivoted out of the bottom of the grooves 16, as clearly shown in full lines, Fig. 1. In this position it will be apparent that th ends of the legs 25 of the member [2 slidably engage the outturned triangular ends of the legs of the body. Since the body I0 is formed of relatively stifi sheet metal the legs 2| thereof remain substantially normal to the base l9 as shown in Fig. 3. Consequently, when the member l2 occupies the position shown in full lines, Fig. l, the legs 26 thereof spread outwardly of each other under spring tension due to engagement with the slopr. s 3 ing ends of the body legs. The base of member ii is thus held resiliently against the floor, assuring that the prop holds against the floor. When it is desired to move the prop member 12 to inoperative position th same may be raised with the foot or hand to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 1. It will be apparent that if the U-shaped stop 12 is brought slightly past the apexes [5 of thetriangular ends, the tension due to spreading of tthe prop legs. causes the same to slide upwardly, thus causing the prop to assume the vertical dotted line position shown in Fig. 1. In fact, I prefer to make the apexes I5 very sharp so that there will be no dead center position of the member l2, the same either beend against the floor. i From the foregoing it will be apparent that I have devised an improved door holder'which is simple and economical of manufacture and which embodies a minimum number of working parts. It will also be apparent that by forming the holder of two U-shaped members assembled as shown, the spring tension desired for causing the member [2 to remain resiliently against the floor may be'supplied in part by both spring tension of the legs 2| of body member IO and by spring tension exerted by the legs 26 of the prop I2 flexing about the point of juncture with the base 24 thereof, or, if desired, the prop may be made of rigid, non-resilient material and the body made of spring steel stock. In this case all of the spring tension necessary to proper functioning of the device would be provided by flexing the legs of the body. Likewise, while I have described my invention as beingpreferably made-of metallic members, it will be apparent to those skilled in theart that there maybe other materials, such .for instance as certain plastics, which are suitable for its manufacture. The claims are therefore intended to cover such materials unless the same are by their terms specifically limited to metallic materials.

,While I have shown my invention in but one form, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various changes and modifications, without departingfrom the spirit thereof, and IBdesire, therefore, that only-such limitations shall be placed thereupon as'are specifically set forth in theappended claims. I .QWhatIcIaimis; H v 7 1, In a door holder, a U-shaped body formed of a sheet of spring steel to provide abase section ing in the vertical position or bearing at its lower and legs outstanding therefrom, an elongated rounded vertical groove formed in the end of each leg parallel to the base and extendin across the leg, the outer end of each leg extending forwardly and outwardly to a point from the outer ends of the rounded groove as viewed in transverse section, said outer ends being triangular as the sheet is viewed in developed plan with the apexes of the triangles coincident with the longitudinal centerline of the sheet, there being holes through the legs at the points of intersection of the longitudinal center line of the legs and the bottoms of the grooves, a U- shaped floor engaging prop formed of a rod of spring steel of a, diameter to lie in said grooves, and inturned ends on the legs of the prop passing loosely through said openings whereby the sides of the legs of the prop engage the triangular ends of the body when the prop legs are moved out of parallel with the grooves and act to urge the legs to a position where they lie in said grooves.

2. In a. door holder, a. body of sheet metal having a base .section and a pair of. oppositely disposedlegs outstanding therefrom in planes substantially parallel to each other, means to securethe baseof the body to a door, portions on the ends of the legs sloping reversely from an outstandingpoint on the longitudinal center line of the legs, each leg having a vertical groove formed therein immediately adjacent the outer end thereof and extending across the leg, there being. openings in said legs at the longitudinal center of the grooves, a. .U-shaped resilient floor engaging prop member having inturned members adjacent the ends of the legs thereof passing through said openings, the legs of said prop member being of a shape to fit in said grooves when they are moved to a position parallel to said grooves and being disposed to engage the sloping ends of the legs of the body when the legs of the prop member are pivoted out of parallel alignment with the grooves. V

EDWARD H. WINGATE, JR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ,of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 999,315 Kimberley i Aug. 1, 1911 

